


On la Noche de Suenos

by jotc



Category: Eureka
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-23
Updated: 2013-07-23
Packaged: 2017-12-21 03:54:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/895489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jotc/pseuds/jotc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During "Noche de Suenos," Jack dreams of a disturbing incident from his days as a Marshal. Jo POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On la Noche de Suenos

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a fill for a [smallfandomfest](http://smallfandomfest.livejournal.com/) prompt: "Instead of the naked dream in Noche de suenos, Jack has a nightmare about his time as a Marshall. How do people react?" I went with "in addition" rather than instead of the naked dream, with minor deviations from the episode's timeline.

An entirely naked Jack Carter strolled into the Sheriff’s office, greeted Jo casually, then sat down at his desk. She snickered wildly, thought about cluing him in, but hadn’t controlled her giggles enough to speak by the time he wandered on out.

Jo couldn’t resist following. Maybe she’d get to arrest her boss for indecent exposure. Oh, it probably wasn’t his fault. Eureka was prone to strange events, and the guy had probably been exposed to some experimental chemical or hit with some strange sort of radiation. Jo didn’t care; she’d milk it for months of merciless teasing no matter what the cause.

But by the time she made it into the street, Carter was fully clothed. Jo didn’t have time to puzzle it out. Carter’s voice rang out, “Get down!”

Jo hit the ground fast, out of reflex. She landed on grass, not pavement. The street outside Cafe Diem had been replaced by a lawn, thick and wet with dew. She scanned the area to see who was shooting. Nathan Stark and Allison Blake lay on the ground next to her. Allison had an arm over her son Kevin. Zoe crouched low in the grass to her left, and Fargo stood upright like a big bull’s eye. Jo lunged forward, pushed the back of his knee, then yanked his arm.

“Carter said down!” she hissed.

“Why?” Fargo asked, bewildered.

“Don’t know, don’t care. When someone says down, you get down!”

“What’s going on?” Zoe asked nervously. “Where’s my dad?”

“We’ll find him,” Jo promised.

A ramshackle old farmhouse stood in the distance. The white paint was peeling and nearly gray with age. The roof was missing shingles, and a loose board swung from under one of the windows. Overgrown juniper bushes lined the front. Two rusted vehicles had been nearly engulfed by thick grass. Other than the single house, the area stood empty. A freeway ran past in the distance.

The sharp crack of a bullet rang out. A figure appeared in one of the second story windows, then withdrew.

“Find cover,” she ordered. She crawled fast, setting an example for the others. Fargo rose on hands and knees, which made him more of a target, but Jo decided not to waste time arguing. She led them behind a decrepit pickup truck.

“Stay here,” she ordered. “I’m going in.”

“You’ll get shot!” Zoe protested.

“Yeah, well, they’re already shooting. I’ll take my chances inside, rather than wait here to get picked off. And I have to find your dad.” Dimly, Jo knew that none of this made sense. But her instincts toward protecting her friend overrode any other concerns.

The door wouldn’t open. She could hear voices from inside. Carter, yelling, trying to persuade someone to call an ambulance. Behind her, the crack of gunfire sounded again, and Fargo screamed.

She risked standing and slammed the door hard with her shoulder. The rotten wood creaked. Two more blows, and she had the door open. She entered with her gun drawn and ready.

She found herself in a basement room. Carter sat tied in a chair. His face was badly bruised, his shirt was missing, and his chest was marked with vivid red welts. “Don’t look,” he said firmly. And then Jo was back at the doorway.

“Crap,” she swore. She had to get in.

“Where’s Carter?” Stark asked. Jo whirled to face him, wondering how he had come up behind her without her noticing.

“You’re not supposed to be here! You’re a civilian, you should be getting the others to safety.”

“Yeah, that could be an issue seeing as I have no idea where we are. We’re dreaming, Jo, and I’m pretty sure it’s Carter’s dream.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “I have to help Carter. Some psycho has him tied up to a chair, and he sent me packing.”

“How?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “He just…”

“Willed you away?”

“No,” she said. “Maybe. The point is—”

“The point is, none of this is real. And if Carter can change things, so can we. So just imagine us opening the door and finding him on the other side.”

“He’s my Dad,” Zoe said. Badly startled by her voice, Jo just barely managed not to flinch. “I want to help, too.”

“Zoe, get back out there! He’ll kill me if anything happens to you!”

She shook her head firmly. “I’m not leaving my dad!”

Allison now stood next to Zoe. Jo begrudgingly considered the possibility that Stark was right. Allison said, “Fargo’s been shot. I left Kevin with him. Kevin’s keeping pressure on the wound. He’s not bleeding too badly, but he’s shocky. We’d better act quickly, before this gets worse.”

“Another joiner, it’s a regular party,” Jo complained. “Okay, let’s find him. Follow me.”

“He’s right here,” Stark said. And he was. Jo must have blanked out for a second, because she was back in the basement. Carter took one look at Zoe and panicked, just as she knew he would.

“Get her out! Get her away! I don’t want her to see!” He lunged against the chair. It started to tip. Jo stepped forward, grabbed it, wrestled it upright and stable. Carter continued to yell.

“What are we up against?” she asked. “Who’s the shooter?”

“He’s a stupid punk kid who stabbed a guy in a bar fight. His brother put up bail, and he jumped bail. I was on his trail, but he chloroformed me and took me here. Everything is fine, my partner gets me out. They find me in time. Now go!”

“I’m your partner,” Jo said. She pulled out a knife and started cutting the ropes. But that meant putting her gun away.

And then the ropes were cutting in to her own flesh. She wasn’t in the chair, though. Somehow she was tied in place, lined up against the wall with the others. Zoe sat in the chair. 

A pale young man wearing nondescript jeans and a ratty t-shirt walked around Zoe, humming under his breath. Zoe looked terrified.

“Stay calm, Zoe, we’ll get you out,” Jo called. “Remember, it’s just a dream.” But Carter lost it. He yelled threats, insults, he begged, he threw himself bodily against his restraints. The young man watched, smiling and relaxed. Carter addressed the rest of them as well as the kid, though. He said again and again, “You shouldn’t be here.”

The kid drew a knife. He advanced toward Zoe. Suddenly, things snapped into place. She understood why Carter wanted them gone. She couldn’t stop the dream, any more than Carter himself could. All she could do was offer him some privacy.

“We shouldn’t be here,” she said calmly. “Come on. We can’t help. It’s time to go.”

The ropes fell away. She led the others out. A pale ghost of Zoe stayed in the chair. Carter remained tightly bound. Outside, they stood in the wet grass and waited. Jo could hear Carter screaming. Fargo struggled to sit; Kevin tried awkwardly to keep pressure on. Allison knelt next to them and took over.

“It’s all right,” Jo told Fargo. “You weren’t really shot.”

“But the sheriff,” Fargo said hesitantly. “He needs us. I mean, my shoulder really hurts, and the sight of my own blood kind of makes me dizzy, but he wouldn’t leave one of us in trouble.”

Jo shook her head. “He’s just dreaming. He’ll be fine. You weren’t shot.” She took Fargo’s hand. “It’s an illusion. Trust me, the sheriff is fine, and so are you. Just relax. Think of something else. Here’s your chance to live out your fantasies.”

“Can’t we help?” Zoe asked. Tears streaked her face, but she carried herself with firm resolve.”

“Not now. He’ll be all right, Zoe. His partner gets to him in time.”

Jo needed a distraction, preferably one that would appeal both to Fargo and to a teenage girl. Zorro, she thought, and took Zoe’s hand. She imagined them both in fancy dresses, and Stark she cast in the role of menacing stranger. Fargo she put in Zorro’s black clothes and hat, with a lightning-swift rapier.

If not for her worry over Carter, Jo would have enjoyed seeing two handsome men fight over her. Not that she’d ever thought of Fargo as handsome before, but he played his role well. She’d never seen Fargo move so gracefully. His shoulder had healed, and he matched every sword thrust from Stark as though he’d spent half his life training. Zoe giggled, though she still looked shaken.

Fargo finished the fight with a flourish. Then the dreams faded, and Jo woke in Cafe Diem. The clock read 4 A.M. Most of the crowd still slept peacefully. Carter’s face was streaked with sweat, and his breath came in short, fast pants. His eyes snapped open and stared blankly before he managed to orient himself.

Stark, Allison, Zoe, Kevin, and Fargo were all awake. Fargo rubbed at his shoulder, as if to make sure it was really intact. Jo had hoped that no one would remember Carter’s dream, but no such luck. No one but Zoe would quite meet Carter’s gaze, whereas Zoe stared at him as if terrified that he would get snatched away at any second.

Carter rubbed a hand over his face. “I am so, so sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean for you to see any of that. I tried not to think of anything disturbing before I went to sleep, but it’s kind of like trying not to think of a pink elephant.”

“Not your fault,” Stark said. “Now what did we learn? This suggests—”

Stark steered the conversation firmly away from the specifics of the dream. Every now and then Stark could be surprisingly decent, Jo reflected.

Jo hated this part. Her adrenaline was up, and she wanted nothing more than to shoot whatever crazy psycho had dared assault her friend. Either that, or give Carter a good hard shake for thinking only about how his dream would affect the rest of them, with no care for his own well-being. But neither of those would do any good; right now Carter needed her to be calm and reasonable. She sucked at reasonable, but for her friend, she’d try.

Jo waited until the others were absorbed in the puzzle, then she pulled Carter aside and asked, “What was that all about?” She tried her best to keep her voice calm.

“The kid turned out to be a serial killer,” Carter said. “Not one of the famous ones. He had two dismembered bodies stashed in his basement. It’s so rare, I never suspected until he grabbed me. He never actually did much, except hit me a few times when he was asking how I found him. Hey, Jo, breathe! It turned out fine.”

“I know,” she said. Calm, she reminded herself. She wiped her hands on her pants and took a deep breath. “What happened next?”

“He had me imprisoned for four hours. Like I said, he didn’t do much, but that was a long four hours. In my dreams, sometimes it’s Zoe, and sometimes the rescue isn’t fast enough.”

“Where’s psycho kid now?” Jo asked.

“Dead. He got shot when the team showed up to break me out. He died in transit to the hospital.”

“Good. If he wasn’t…”

“Yeah, you’d go shoot him for me,” Carter said dryly. “To be honest, I appreciate the sentiment, though I’d rather not have you commit murder on my behalf.”

“Why didn’t I know any of this?”

“It doesn’t exactly come up in casual conversation. I don’t dwell on it. I went through mandatory counseling, and I honestly don’t think of it much. But it still pops up in my dreams once in a rare while, and knowing we were going to share… I guess my brain went straight for the one thing I never wanted Zoe to see.”

Time to lighten the mood. “It could be worse,” Jo pointed out. “I saw you naked. No daughter needs to see that.”

Carter’s laughter bordered on the hysterical, but at least he was laughing. The others stared curiously, but Jo waved them off, and they didn’t push.

Once Carter calmed down, Jo said, “I don’t think Zoe quite knew what all we were seeing.”

“She doesn’t need to.”

“Not every detail, but you probably ought to talk to her once you get the chance.”

Carter nodded.

“One other thing, partner.” Jo caught his gaze, made sure she had his full attention. “I got your back. Any time, any place. Even in your dreams. Don’t ever forget that.” Carter nodded, and the tension in his face eased. Both of them were survivors, Jo reflected. He’d be all right. She’d make sure of it.


End file.
